


Read The First Line

by killingmonsterswritingthings



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Domestic, Gen, Glasses, Multi, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-28 21:33:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7657528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killingmonsterswritingthings/pseuds/killingmonsterswritingthings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim notices something is wrong with Spock's eyesight and ropes Bones in to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Read The First Line

**Author's Note:**

> a nice anon prompted this on tumblr ([here :D](http://paladings.tumblr.com/post/148347467610/do-u-take-prompts-ignore-this-if-u-dont-but)) so i just _had to_
> 
> thank you to allie for discussing glasses and frame designs at length with me and providing the title! YOU'RE GOING TO SPACE!!

Jim was sitting in the captain’s chair, nursing his first coffee of the day and watching a phenomenon he had been observing over the course of the last few days.

“Bones,” he said, calling his friend towards him. “Come take a look at this.”

Bones came easily. “What is it?”

Jim motioned in the direction of Spock wordlessly, who was reading something on his tablet. The interesting thing was that he was holding it closer to his face than should have been necessary and Jim could have sworn the size of the text on the display had been magnified.

Bones frowned. “Now that’s weird.”

“See, that’s what I thought,” Jim nodded. “He’s been doing it for a while, too. His eyes, maybe?”

“Have you ever seen a Vulcan with glasses?” Bones asked.

Jim paused. “No?” he then said. “But Spock’s different, isn’t he?”

“Don’t let him hear that,” Bones said and rolled his eyes. “But yeah, probably his human side taking a toll on his eyes. Have him come down to the med bay, we can’t have him making it worse with whatever he’s doing there.”

  


Jim waited until Spock was done with whatever report he had been reading before he got up to talk to him.

“Are you feeling alright?”

Spock blinked at him. “I’m quite alright, captain.”

“Are you sure? I’ve seen you squinting at that screen,” Jim said because he felt that it wouldn’t make much sense to beat around the bush.

“My eyes… may have been getting tired more quickly than they used to,” Spock said diplomatically.

Jim sighed. “Report to med bay, Spock. I need you at a hundred percent.”

“I’ve detected no other problems, I’m sure it’s just a lack of rest.”

“Eyes are important,” Jim said and got up. “I’ll accompany you, we’ll be in this system for a while and I think the bridge can spare me for a moment.”

Spock looked at him for a moment before relenting. “Very well.”

  


They went down to medical together and Jim hopped up on one of the unoccupied beds while he waited for Bones to run his tests.

He had Spock do a few reading exercises first, some of which he failed spectacularly. Jim was amused at first but honestly, how Spock had gotten this far with his eyes like this was a mystery to him.

“Just like I thought,” Bones mumbled finally, peering into Spock’s eyes for one final check. “Your inner eyelids – which you do have, by the way – made it hard to tell, but you’re definitely shortsighted.”

Jim let out a low whistle.

“That confirms my theory, too,” Spock said.

“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Jim asked, incredulous.

“I didn’t think it bad enough to warrant so much attention,” Spock said.

“That logic isn’t very sound,” Bones quipped and Jim had to laugh.

“I was sure you had enough to do,” Spock continued but Jim and Bones both shook their heads.

“Stop making up excuses,” Jim said, swinging his legs, still not ready to abandon the bed. Spock’s stubbornness and self-sacrificing streak were definitely human traits. “Can you fix his eyes, Bones?”

Bones hummed and considered it for a second. “There’s a minor laser surgery to fix myopia but even that still takes a few days to heal and settle, and I can’t be sure how your eyes would react to it specifically.”

“I’d rather not be part of one of your experiments,” Spock said. “Especially if it will take me out of commission for several days.”

“Glasses?” Jim asked.

“Now glasses we can do,” Bones said.

Jim could only see half of Spock’s face but for a moment it looked like he was grimacing.

“Contact lenses are of course also a possibility,” Bones continued. “But again, with your eyes it’s a gamble if they would work properly with the inner lids.”

“I think glasses will suffice,” Spock said and Bones and Jim shared a look.

“Alright,” Bones said. “I have some experience but we have an optometrist on board who can help us in specifying your diopter measurement.”

Spock didn’t object so Bones contacted the other doctor, Alexandria Moon, who arrived shortly after. She raised her eyebrows a little at Jim’s presence but didn’t comment, instead opting to start work on Spock.

She was efficient and fast. Jim thought the moment where Spock couldn’t decide between two lens strengths was funny, even though Spock didn’t seem to share the sentiment. Bones however was hiding a small grin behind his hand himself.

“We can get the replicator to make you a pair of eyeglasses,” Alexandria explained when she was done. “You can have it in a few minutes.”

“Sounds good,” Bones cut in before Spock could say anything.

The optometrist gave him a tired look. “We need to talk about designs first.”

“Oh boy,” Jim said, already sliding off the bed and walking the few steps towards Bones.

“He’s just gonna choose the first one she shows him,” Bones said and it sounded almost _disappointed_.

“No, even worse, he’s going to make her explain the advantages and disadvantages of every frame,” Jim said.

“I can hear you,” Spock said drily.

“We know,” they said at the same time.

“I’m going to give a quick overview,” Alexandria said. “Smaller frames take less time to get used to but offer a more limited field of vision while larger frames will sometimes confuse the eyes until they get used to them, while the frame is less visible for the wearer and thus less intrusive.”

“Can you show us a few?” Jim asked.

“I am not a child, captain,” Spock said.

Jim sighed but backed off because well, it wasn’t his decision after all. And ticking off a Vulcan was never a good idea, although he ran less risk to be ejected into space this time.

Still, it took him all of thirty seconds to throw caution to the wind when Alexandria pulled up the different frames on her tablet.

“Ohh, these look nice,” he said, pointing at a large, black-rimmed frame. Bones pushed his hands away so he could see better.

“Are you sure? I don’t think they would suit his face.”

“Captain, please,” Alexandria said at the same time as Spock said “Doctor.”

“Yes, okay, you choose,” Jim said, raising his hands in defeat and backing away. So Bones and him kept in the background, anxiously waiting for Spock to choose. Jim hopped back up on the bed to try and get a better view and Bones ended up joining him.

  


In the end Spock opted for a medium-sized pair of square frames – his words, since he refused to let Jim and Bones see the picture – and Alexandria went off to get him his glasses.

“This is nerve-wracking,” Bones confessed quietly and Jim snorted.

“So this is how you get your entertainment down here.”

“Excuse me, there’s plenty of entertainment whenever something goes wrong in engineering, but this is better because there’s no actual injuries involved and I don’t have to reattach any limbs,” Bones said.

“That’s… fair,” Jim said.

“I don’t understand how either me getting eyeglasses or an accident engineering qualify as entertainment,” Spock said from the other side of the room where he had settled on a stool.

“It’s called humor,” Bones said.

Spock looked like he wanted to say something else but thankfully Alexandria returned with his pair of glasses, effectively preventing him from voicing whatever remark he had been about to say.

“Here you go,” she said and Spock carefully took the glasses from her.

Jim felt like he was on the edge of his seat – or bed, in this case – with anticipation. Thankfully Spock didn’t look at either of them before putting on the glasses.

“Yes, this is much better,” he said immediately.

Bones laughed. “Man, your sight must’ve been worse than you thought...” He trailed off when Spock turned to look at them.

“Well,” Jim said, his mouth very dry, “ _better_ is one word to put it.”

Spock frowned and Alexandria had to smile a little. “I’ll be taking off then,” she said.

By the time the doors had closed behind her both Jim and Bones were still staring at Spock. The glasses he had chosen where relatively slim but the black frame thicker than Jim had anticipated. It accentuated Spock’s face in just the right way, his brown eyes suddenly appearing a little bigger.

“You know, for a Vulcan you have very expressive eyes,” Bones said after a moment. “Half-Vulcan, sorry.”

“Is that an insult?” Spock asked immediately.

Jim grinned. “No, I think that was a compliment.”

“Definitely,” Bones said. “You look good, Spock.”

Spock looked from Bones to Jim and back again. “I don’t think that applies here, Leonard.”

“Oh man,” Jim said and bit his lip. “It really does.”

Getting Spock to wear glasses had been a good choice for his eyes, of course, but Jim saw a lot of trouble for himself in his future. Maybe this had been a mistake.

But what a good one it had been.

  


**Author's Note:**

> good luck trying to keep those clean spock! those uniforms dont look like the right fabric...  
> (lmao spock carrying around a microfiber cloth AT ALL TIMES)
> 
> come find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/luffylaws) or [tumblr](https://paladings.tumblr.com)


End file.
